A magnitude 5.7 earthquake in Afghanistan was felt across South Asia on Monday, shaking the ground in Kabul, Islamabad and New Delhi. The epicenter of the quake was about 34km west-sout-west of Ashkasham, Afghanistan (88 kilometers from Feyzabad), at a depth of 223 kilometers, the US Geological Survey reported.

The tremors lasted for nearly 30 seconds on Monday, triggering panic as people living in high-rises rushed out of the buildings, witnesses said. Tremors felt in Noida, Delhi, Srinagar, Punjab and other areas. No immediate loss of life and property were reported from anywhere.

The tremors came about three hours after a 4.9 magnitude temblor about 109 ESE of Yanqi, China and another shortly after an earthquake measuring 4.9 on the Richter Scale rocked Nepal early on Monday morning.

The epicenter of the tremor was at Gorkha, according to the National Seismological Centrre. It was also felt in Kathmandu, 150 km east from the epicenter.

Earlier on Monday, a powerful magnitude 6.7 quake struck 179km southwest of Dadali, Solomon Islands in the South Pacific. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre in Hawaii said that it was not issuing a tsunami warning. "Based on earthquake information and historic tsunami records the earthquake was not sufficient to generate a tsunami," it said.